Check wire for planters



Nov. 27, 19.34. E. R. GRAVES 1,982,427

CHECK WIRE FOR \PLANTERS Filed Oct. 31, 1932 l znueni K 12 Earz/fl rayes' Patented Nov. 27, 1934 UNITED STATES CHECK WIRE FOR PLANTERS Earl R. Graves, Riverside, 111., assignor to Inter national Harvester Company, a corporation of New J erscy .Application October .31, 1932, Serial No. 640,426

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a check wire for planters. More particularly it relates to an improved continuous length of wire formed with integral buttons.

In check row planters a check wire is used on which buttons are formed at regular intervals for tripping the mechanism, thereby depositing the seed in a hill. In the case of multiple row planters a rock shaft extends across the planter so that a plurality of hills are deposited in transverse alignment. The wire is stretched across the field and is maintained as nearly as possible in position without longitudinal movement of the buttons. By these means a cross check is obtained. In all check wire now in use individual lengths of wire are used with the ends secured together to form a tripping knot with both ends secured to the eyes of a knot member.

In order to reduce the stretch of the wire to a minimum it is preferable to use high carbon steel in the wire. Such wire, when wound around the spools used for storing the wire and for laying it across the field, obtains a more or less permanent set which has the effect of a plurality of leaf springs when the wire is stretched across the field. As each section of wireis loosely-cone nected to the knots at its ends there is a considerable tension to the wire. In addition to the spring tension of this nature there is a certain amount of give in the loops at each end of the sections of wire where they are secured to the knot or to the next section. These loops spring when the wire is under tension, giving an additional stretch to the wire. As a result of the conditions above described, difficulty is encountered when using this type of wire with maintaining the proper tension to prevent longitudinal movement of the wire with subsequent inaccurate checking. To assist the operator springs in the nature of scales have been used on the posts at each end of the field to assist in determining the proper tension to place upon the wire.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved check wire from a continuous length of wire.

Another object is to provide a wire of such a construction that a high carbon steel may be used in the wire.

Other objects, such as the elimination of the loops now used in the individual section of wire, will be apparent from the detailed description to follow.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of a check row planter, showing the position of the check head and the position the wire takes in operative position when passing through the check head;

Figure 2 is an enlarged elevation of a check head showing a check wire in operative position in engagement with the check fork;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic cross section, illustrating a pair of dies serving as electrodes in engagement with a wire on which a button is to be formed:

Figure 4 shows the same elements as Figure 3 after the button has been formed on the wire by bringing the dies together;

Figure 5 is a plan view of a section of the wire after its formation; v

Figure 6 is a section showing a modification in which I a separate button is positioned on the continuous check wire; and

Figure '7 is a plan-slew showing the same elements as Figure 6.

A check row planter has. been illustrated in 7-5 the drawing diagrammatically to show how the checkwire of this invention is utilized. It is understood that the cheek wire 10 shown in Figure l, which is formed with the buttons 11, as will be hereinafter described, passes through an the check head 12 of the planter, which may bedesignated as a unit by the numeral 13. As better shown in Figure 2, the check head 12 is provided with a plurality of guide rolls 14 positioned on vertical axes and a plurality of cooperating guide rolls 15 mounted on horizontal axes. A check fork 16' is rigidly mounted on a rock shaft 17 which is rotatably mounted in the check head and extends transversely across the front of the planter. The check fork 16 has a pair of spaced upwardly extending arms between which the check wire 10 passes. When a button 11 reaches the check fork it is engaged and moved through an angular distance sufficient to operate the seeding mechanism. The button then slides out from the check fork and the check fork is returned by a spring action. This construction is used in most commercial planters at the present time and is well known to those skilled in the art. Only such parts have been shown as are necessary to illustrate the present invention.

As shown in Figure 3, the check buttons are formed by upsetting portions of a continuous wire by a pair of combined electrode and die members 18. As indicated in dotted lines, these members are split to provide for their engagement of a wire. To form a button the members are securely clamped on the wire, spaced apart a suflicient distance to obtain material for a 110 button. Although the button should be of substantial size and thickness, there is a limit to the amount of material which can be electrically heated between two electrodes of this nature and formed into a button. For this reason care must be exercised in positioning the electrodes. However, after a machine has been set up to perform this operation it maybe designed to operate as a substantially automatic machine. As shown in Figure 4, when the dies are brought together, the material previously extending between the two members, which has been heated by a strong current passing between the electrodes, is upset and flattened out into a circular disk-like button, concentric with respect to the axis of the wire, and having its fork engaging periphery rounded. There is a slight recess around the button, as indicated in Figure 4 even when flat electrodes are used. This recess is due to the flowing action of the heated material. It is to be understood that a continuous wire is used and that any length of wire may be formed as a continuous wire with integral check buttons formed thereon. Due to the nature of the method by which this wire is formed there is no restriction on the kind of wire which can be used within a wide limit, that is, the carbon content of the wire is not an important consideration as it is in the formation of wire in which loops must be formed.

For use as a check Wire in a check row planter a continuous one-piece wire has a marked advantage. In the first place it does not stretch to any appreciable extent as a high carbon wire may be used and as there are no loops in which a spring action is obtained. This is a very important feature and one of the outstanding results accomplished by the check wire of this invention. As previously pointed out, the spring action and the stretch which is always obtained in check wires of the prior art, present a problem which has been solved only by. the skill of the operator and by spring measuring appliances at the securing posts used to hold the ends of the wire. Although a wire of this type is constructed of a high carbon steel, it does not have the same tendency to kink and act as a spring in that respect as a wire composed of individual sec-'- tions loosely connected together. When a continuous piece of wire is laid out the kinking or bending action, which has become a permanent set of the wire, due to winding it on a drum, does not have the same action as the short free links of a sectional wire. A high carbon one-piece wire may be stretched in a straight line across a field with the application of a comparatively low tension. As an additional advantage the application of excess tension does not stretch the wire even temporarily, and for that reason it is not necessary to accurately apply the same tension to the wire at all times to maintain it in substantially the same position and to prevent longitudinal travel across the field.

Figures 6 and 7 of the drawing show a modification in which a more extensive button may be formed on the wire by the application of a hard metal disk 19 thereto prior to the upsetting or swaging operation. Upset heads 20 may be formed simultaneously on each side of the disk or central member, thereby securing the same in a rigid position on the wire. In other respects the wire is a continuous integral piece, the same as that previously described and has the same advantages. I

It is to be understood that applicant has shown and described only certain preferred embodiments of his inventionand that he claims all modifications falling within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A check wire for planters comprising a length of substantially stretchless steel wire having check buttons positioned thereon at uniformly spaced intervals, said wire being continuous in a straight line through the button whereby the portion of the wire in the area of the button is equivalent in strength to'the remainder of the wire, the metalof the wire in the area of the button being upset radially in disk-like form.

2. A check wire for planterscomprising a continuous straight length of high carbon steel wire provided with integral check buttons thereon at uniformly spaced intervals, said buttons comprising radially extending upset portions of the wire of disk-like form.

3. A check wire for planters having a check fork comprising a continuous length of high carbon steel wire provided with check buttons thereon at spaced intervals, said buttons consisting of upset portions of the wire formed with flat faces in the direction of the -wire and with their peripheral portions round in radial cross section to provide a check fork engaging surface.

EARL R. GRAVES. 

